Judge: Department of Defense improperly redacted documents

July 24, 2018

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A federal judge has found the U.S. Department of Defense improperly redacted several unclassified documents sought by Kansas Attorney General Derek Schmidt related to surveying potential sites for housing terror suspects now held in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

U.S. District Judge Donald Crabtree in his ruling Monday also found that the Department of Defense properly withheld some information in one document.

The ruling partially granted the department’s motion for summary judgment and denied it in part.

Kansas filed the federal lawsuit under the Freedom of Information Act in 2016 seeking documents related to the Obama administration’s plan to move detainees.

Crabtree says his order seems to resolve all disputed issues, but he scheduled an Aug. 9 hearing to confer with the parties and plan for any future proceedings.